The Jaffe Briefing - August 11, 2021

TRENTON – This city’s scrappy tabloid is getting comeuppance from City Council members who are fed up with its punchy coverage of their often eye-popping antics. The council voted 4-2 to yank all legal advertisements from The Trentonian, giving $10,000 worth of annual public notices only to The Times of Trenton. This painful payback – clearly meant to choke the tabloid – comes weeks after exasperated council members publicly blasted the paper’s reporting as “biased,” “sexist,” “racist” and way too opinionated. Only Councilman George Muschal, himself a past target of unflattering coverage, defended the 75-year-old tabloid: “We love The Trentonian. (It) ain’t the problem.” Agreed. If the council doesn’t like the unflattering spotlight, it should first look at itself.

EDISON – For years, no one could figure out why the name of the Dismal Swamp was so, well, dismal. After all, the swamp is in an overbuilt town where the local hobby is subdividing building lots and the official mascot is the jughandle. Gov. Phil Murphy braved the local traffic yesterday to sign a bill, renaming the 660-acre treasure after another local treasure, the late Sen. Peter J. Barnes 3rd, who died in February. Murphy said the Dismal Swamp may have no longer existed without an environmental stalwart like Barnes, who helped form a preservation commission that ensured dogged developers did not convert the preserve into yet more condos and cul-de-sacs.

NEWARK – The Port Authority’s new inspector general has an immediate, Herculean task: Find out why it costs $7 for a bottle of water at the terminals. John Gay is looking into the outrageous prices for food and drink at Newark airport, as well as the other Port Authority facilities, NJ.com reports. Apparently, the airport vendors are only allowed to charge 10% over the “street prices” for items. So, as you can easily buy a bottle of cold water on Broad Street in Newark for a buck, does that mean the same item should sell in the airport for $1.10? Ha Ha. That is funny. But at least the inspector general will be asking the right questions about the daily gouging of airline passengers, forced to dispose of their liquids at security, and then slammed for $100 or so before the family vacation even begins. It all came to a head when someone tweeted about their $27.85 Sam Adams Summer Ale and $10.90 French fries. Not exactly “street” pricing in Newark.

BRIEFING BREATHER

The cigarette lighter was invented before the match.

NEWARK – Pop some popcorn, sit back and enjoy the show. NJ Transit is sponsoring two online forums tomorrow to hear what bus riders really, truly think of the service in and out of Newark. Yes, NJ Transit really wants to hear peoples’ opinion of its service on 38 bus lines. NJ.com reports the hearings will be at 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. tomorrow, and you can register in advance at njtransit.com/newbus NJ.com does a terrific job covering transportation, so we eagerly await to read all the colorful comments, as NJ Transit considers a redesign of its bus routes as far away as Somerville, Hackensack and Parsippany. Commuters always love change – being snarky here – so the public comments should make for some must-see TV, as some bus routes may change for the first time in decades. Wonder if Jerry Springer is moderating.

ATLANTIC CITY – If you stay up all night wondering how the casinos are faring during the pandemic, it is time to rest easy. A national casino trade group says the industry has been raking in the cash, enjoying its most lucrative second quarter ever, with $13.6 billion. It seems gamblers eager for some in-person action flooded to the slot machines and blackjack tables, bringing the casinos more revenue in one quarter than all of 2020. The casinos set a revenue record in 2019 of $43.6 billion, which should be easily surpassed this year – if the Delta variant is controlled. All are also hoping for the convention business to return in full force, recharging revenue streams for trade groups and promising a bright future for Atlantic City. Again.

IN OTHER IMPORTANT NEWS

RENO, Nev. – It’s unclear what our kids did this summer, but they certainly didn’t jump in a lake and then swim 21.3 miles to shatter a bunch of records. Consider a 14-year-old California boy to be a bit of an overachiever, swimming the entire length of Lake Tahoe in just 12 hours, becoming the youngest person ever to achieve such a feat. He also managed to swim between two states, beginning in South Lake Tahoe, Calif. and ending in the Nevada town of Incline Village, the Tahoe Daily Tribune reports. Meanwhile, our teens’ summer achievement included the assembling of cupcakes, although the final results indicate a need for more practice.

THIS DAY IN HISTORY

It was this day in 1984 that President Reagan joked that he “signed legislation that would outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes.” Not a funny one, Gipper.

WORD OF THE DAY

Gormandize – [GOR-mun-dyze] – verb

Definition: To eat greedily, gluttonously or ravenously

Example: I gormandized the hors d'oeuvres, polishing off the entire lot before any of the other guests even arrived.

WIT OF THE DAY

“I usually accept bribes from both sides so that tainted money can never influence my decision.”

-Francis Bacon

BIDEN BLURB

“Corruption is a cancer: a cancer that eats away at a citizen's faith in democracy, diminishes the instinct for innovation and creativity; already-tight national budgets, crowding out important national investments. It wastes the talent of entire generations. It scares away investments and jobs.”

-Joe Biden

WEATHER IN A WORD

Sweltering